Murdoch 'will retain newspapers'

Rupert Murdoch's resignation from the board of his British newspapers has intensified speculation about their future.

Andrew Neil, the former editor of The Sunday Times, said Mr Murdoch might keep The Times, Sunday Times and Sun to continue his battle with the Government, despite the changes at News Corp Investments, NI Group Ltd and Times Newspaper Holdings which News International has described as "a corporate house-cleaning exercise".

Writing in The Daily Beast, Mr Neil said: "On the one hand he knows he's not welcome in Britain, and in his darker moments he ponders whether he should just throw it all in and take his billions elsewhere. But that would spell victory for the British establishment, to which he has accorded a hated and largely mythical status. That makes him inclined to use his UK papers to go to war with it, specifically to make life difficult for the Cameron government."